Recently, a vessel for storing a poisonous drug, a vessel for storing a detergent, a vessel for storing a domestic medicine, etc. are required to be equipped with a child-resistant cap for preventing a child from easily opening a cap.
FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a child-resistant cap in accordance with the conventional art.
The conventional child-resistant cap comprises an inner cap 154 mounted at a vessel inlet 152 formed at a vessel 150 and through which contents inside the vessel 150 is discharged, an outer cap 156 disposed outside the inner cap 154 and moving the inner cap 154 in upper and lower directions within a certain range, and a rotation force transmitting portion 160 formed between the inner cap 154 and the outer cap 156 for transmitting a rotation force of the outer cap 156 to the inner cap 154 only when the outer cap 156 is downwardly pressed and thereby rotating the inner cap 154.
A sealing member 170 for protecting the contents inside the vessel 150 is attached to an upper surface of the vessel inlet 152 of the vessel 150.
A female screw portion 174 screw-coupled to a male screw portion 172 formed at an outer circumferential surface of the vessel inlet 152 is formed at a lower side of the inner cap 154. Also, a stopping jaw 178 for preventing the inner cap 154 from being separated from the outer cap 156 is protruding from an inner circumferential surface of a lower end of the outer cap 156.
The rotation force transmitting portion 160 comprises a first hooking protrusion 164 radially disposed at an outer upper surface of the inner cap 154 with a certain gap and upwardly protruding with a certain width, and a second hooking protrusion 166 radially disposed at an inner upper surface of the outer cap 156 with a certain gap and downwardly protruding with a certain width thus to be locked by the first hooking protrusion 164.
According to the conventional child-resistant cap, the outer cap 156 performs an idling at the outer circumferential surface of the inner cap 154 under a state that the inner cap 154 is mounted at the vessel inlet 152. Therefore, even when the outer cap 156 is rotated by a child, the rotation force of the outer cap 156 is not transmitted to the inner cap 154 and thereby the child can not easily open the outer cap 156.
When the outer cap 156 is downwardly pressed to open the cap, the second hooking protrusion 166 formed at the outer cap 156 is inserted between the first hooking protrusions 164 formed at the inner cap 154 thus to be engaged with each other. Under the state, if the outer cap 156 is rotated, the rotation force of the outer cap 156 is transmitted to the inner cap 154. As the result, the inner cap 154 is also rotated, and is separated from the vessel inlet 152.
The cap is separated from the vessel inlet 152, and then the sealing member 170 sealed at the vessel inlet 152 is removed by a user's hand or an additional tool such as a knife, etc. Then, the contents stored in the vessel 150 is discharged through the vessel inlet 152.
However, in the conventional child-resistant cap, since the sealing member 170 attached to the vessel inlet 152 has to be removed by a user's hand or an additional tool such as a knife, etc. after separating the vessel cap from the vessel 150, a usage inconvenience is caused.
Also, at the time of removing the sealing member 170 by the user's hand, the sealing member 170 is not smoothly separated from an edge of the vessel inlet 152 due to a strong adhesive force therebetween. As the result, the use has to remove the sealing member 170 again by his hand. Herein, as the user's hand comes in contact with the vessel inlet 152, a sanitary problem may be caused.
Furthermore, in the conventional child-resistant cap, the hooking protrusions 164 and 166 are respectively formed at upper sides of the inner cap 154 and the outer cap 156, and there is no structure to upwardly lift the outer cap 156. As the result, the outer cap 156 is downwardly moved by a self weight, and the second hooking protrusion 166 of the outer cap 156 is engaged with the first hooking protrusion 164 of the inner cap 154. Accordingly, a problem that the cap is opened by a child is sometimes caused.